Hokage: Ryo's Path

The mood inside the conference room was already so tense, and his presence when added to the fray got everyone on the edge of their seats.

After long silence, he wiped the serious expression off his face and smiled saying: “Oh, you don’t have to be so nervous. I’m retired now... just seeing who was present!”

The words of the 3rd made everyone more relieved, and they realized that they had to pay more respect to the 3rd, even without him present.

‘One moment where he let go of his momentum got everyone so tense. He’s one powerful old man!’ Inoichi thought to himself.

The 3rd immediately went to the side of Fugaku with a smile on his face, and he took a seat next to him.

The faces of everyone present changed greatly, and even Sakumo frowned; the Sandaime was showing that he was supporting Fugaku!

The situation that Sakumo and Ryo were working to create so hard, where the Uchiha seemed to be isolated; that image was instantly broken!

Heizo also realized this, that the 3rd was now expressing support to the Uchiha clan. He knew the old man far too well to not realize that.

This made him worry to the extreme instantly, and after glancing at the 3rd for a while, Heizo gritted his teeth and decided to give up on the rights to the security department.

Hiashi was also a bit worried, but the feud between the Hyuga and the Uchiha ran too deep, and he didn’t want to give up this chance to suppress them.

He glanced at Inoichi, and he saw a determined look on his face. Seeing this, he felt relieved, and it seemed to him like the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance wasn’t giving up.

After examining the situation, Hiashi frowned and said to Sakumo: “Hokage sama! I am still willing to contribute with my clan to the security of the village. I believe the Ino-Shika-Cho thinks the same?”

Upon hearing that, Inoichi stood up and said: “Well, the Yamanaka family is willing.”

Hearing Inoichi, Hiashi felt that there was something wrong.

‘Only the Yamanaka clan? Not the Ino-Shika-Cho alliance?’ Hiashi thought. He understood then that it was only the Yamanaka clan that was going to get involved.

In fact, it wasn’t only him that thought that the whole alliance was going to be involved when Inoichi stepped forward earlier, but now, that no longer seemed to be the case.

It seemed like Choza and Shikaku weren’t willing to involve their own clans. Perhaps that was why neither of them interfered earlier.

Challenging the Yamanaka clan was completely different from challenging the whole alliance. The family was relatively weak on its own, at least compared to the Hyuga.

But then, Hiashi remembered Ryo! Seeing Inoichi’s determined attitude, it seemed like Ryo was supporting their efforts to get the rights to the security department.

With Ryo’s support, any small family could be in a strong position to ask for what they want.

Sure enough, Hiashi spotted Sakumo nodding to Inoichi. This confirmed his speculation that Ryo had already talked to the Hokage.

Either way, the Hyuga had one opponent down, and Hiashi breathed a sigh of relief. On the other side, the 3rd frowned, but said nothing.

After that, Hiashi did not give up on trying to get the rights to the security department exclusively. If anything, he could at least take most of the rights, and leave the Yamanaka behind. Eventually, Inoichi seemed to give up on the matter after an amount of debates, and the Hyuga were the only party to get a share of the Security Department with the Uchiha.

Hiashi felt it was weird that the Yamanaka just gave up on anything. While he was thinking, Sakumo’s voice interrupted him: “Hiashi dono, are you sure that your want to bear this great responsibility with the Uchiha?”

Hiashi immediately nodded: “Hokage sama, please rest assured: Our clan will live up to your trust.”

Sakumo nodded with satisfaction, and then announced that the Hyuga would from now on handle patrol duties and gate checking.

Hiashi was thrilled. While his clan did not get the detective, prison, and interrogation rights that they really wanted, this was still a great gain, and would get them so much information.

In his ecstasy, Hiashi looked back at Fugaku to add his presumably gloomy face to his enjoyment.

To his surprise however, Fugaku was not angry at all; he was smiling!

The smile shook Hiashi, and he looked around just to see the same smile on the faces of Inoichi and Sakumo!

He panicked slightly, and just as he was about to figure out what was going on, he heard Sakumo’s voice: “Hiashi dono, I’m actually very grateful for your willingness to bear such a responsibility. In fact, I would like to lighten this burden.

From now on, you won’t have to worry too much about the affairs of Konoha. Unlike most clans, the Hyuga clan has two votes in the village’s councils. This makes decision making too much of a burden, so from now on, I believe one of those votes should be given to the Uchiha clan. Of course, while taking these new security responsibilities is a great burden, it is a good compensation for this vote.”

Instantly, Hiashi’s face went pale, as he understood what Sakumo was really doing.

“Hokage sama, we are going to...”

“Hiashi dono, I agree with the Hokage. Your clan is already so burdened with border patrols that having two votes is just too much. I believe you should take this chance to alleviate some of the pressure on your clan.” The 3rd interrupted Hiashi.

“Indeed, the Sandaime is right!” Shikaku finally spoke.

As for everyone else around the table, their eyes shined as they saw a perfect opportunity to bring down the Hyuga clan to Uchiha’s new level of power.

They all now understood that the purpose of the whole meeting was to return the Uchiha family to the political center of Konoha. However, they did not mind too much. Yes, both clans would still be powerful enough, but balance would be maintained, and the Hyuga wouldn’t get to become an even more powerful version of the Uchiha that hogs both political and security rights.

The Hyuga were the ones to eventually stick to the bait, and they were perfect clan for this.

Under the guise of “alleviating the burden off the Hyuga’s back”, they all agreed with Sakumo.

Before everyone’s unified vote, even the Hyuga couldn’t argue, and Hiashi solemnly agreed.

Sakumo nodded with satisfaction, and announced the end of the meeting.

.................

About an hour later, Sakumo, Fugaku and Ryo gather.

Fugaku naturally expressed his gratitude to the two, and promised to direct the Uchiha clan into becoming a true part of Konoha.

With this, the whole Uchiha ordeal came to an end, and most of what Ryo wanted to achieve was done. One thing was left however, and that was dealing with Obito’s seal.

However, as important as it was, that matter could wait. More urgent matter needed to be dealt with.